Watching Each Other's Back
by junemary
Summary: Gokudera Hayato failed Decimo: twice. He is the harbringer of danger. He isn't fit to stay by Decimo's side.


**Watching Each Others Back  
**by: junemary

Summary: Gokudera Hayato failed Decimo: twice. He is the harbringer of danger. He isn't fit to stay by Decimo's side.

-.-

-.-

-.-

-.-

-.-

**Disclaimer**: all rights belong to its rightful owner

-.-

-.-

-.-

_[Flashback]_

"_HAYATO! LOOK OUT!"_

_Too late. His beloved Decimo took the bullet for him. _

_Blood blocked his vision._

_[End of Flashback]_

**Infirmary  
Varia HQ**

Twice.

He endangered the Vongola 10th Boss' life.

The first one was just a bullet graze. Not life-threatening but he groveled for a month at his boss' feet to show that he is really sorry.

The boss forgave him.

"_Stand up, Hayato. It is also the boss' duty to protect his Family."_

But such kind words weren't enough to convince the Storm that his sin has completely forgiven.

So in order to appease his groveling Storm's worries, Decimo said, _"We'll protect each other's back, okay?"_

He happily stood up and exclaimed a proud 'yes!'

Everything he promised back then shattered when his boss got shot.

This time, it's not a graze.

This time, it is life-threatening.

His beloved boss is in a critical condition, Shamal says so.

A direct hit that pierced through his heart.

The bullet's Thunder Flame coated.

That made it worse.

25% chance of survival or no hope at all.

Gokudera messed up his hair in agitation.

_He promised to protect his Boss._

_But he failed to do so._

_What's the point of being his right-hand man?_

They were attending a Famiglia meeting organized by the Vongola Alliance Families to settle conflicts and disputes of ally families. Especially between the Russo Famiglia and the Lombaridi Famiglia. At first, it went well, but it turned chaotic. Then his boss got shot in his stead.

_**[Flashback]**_

**Conference Hall  
Vongola Main Headquarters  
Sicily, Italy**

Both bosses have been at it for the past 20 minutes.

The conflict arose when one of the patrolling guards of the Lombardi Famiglia was shot to death. The victim's companion assured that he saw the insignia of the Russo Famiglia in one of the men's uniform that shot his subordinate. The said men didn't deny it and they are truly from the Russo Famiglia. But they countered that they only protected themselves since the patrolling guard aimed his rifle at them and, with mafia instincts, thought he is going to shoot. So they shot him. The Lombardi's don't approve of this reasoning. Since both Famiglia's are part of Vongola's Alliance Families, they decided to settle it in the presence of the ever-powerful Boss of this era in the entire mafia, the Vongola Decimo.

"The Russo's started it! You killed one of our men in the border!" Marco Lombardi shouted. The room was silent at his outburst. But, the Russo Boss won't be deterred.

"Ha! My men protected themselves! It was just for self-defense!" Luigi Russo retorted back.

With his patience strained because of the squabble, Sawada Tsunayoshi banged his fists in the table and stood up.

"Silence." He uttered that single word and everyone complied. Everyone knows the wrath of the 10th Vongola Boss. No one ever dared to cross that line. If they had, they'll be unable to narrate what really happened. Better safe than sorry.

"I'll leave this matter to you, Kyoya." He looked at his cloud, "I'm counting on you."

"Hn." That was all his Cloud Guardian said. He eyed both Dons, "Follow me to the Common Room." Both leaders stood up and followed him. The Common Room is just connected to the Conference Hall.

"The conflict will be settled between the Bosses." Decimo bellowed in an authoritative voice. He glared and added, "For those who wish to wait, the salon is open. I don't any dispute and fighting in the mansion. Meeting adjourned!" people scrambled out of the room, leaving Decimo and his Guardians (without Hibari), Xanxus and his squad, and a handful of Vongola men inside the room.

"VOOOOOOOOI! BRAT! DO YOU THINK THAT DEMON-LIKE GUARDIAN OF YOURS WILL BE ABLE TO HANDLE THIS PEACEFULLY?" The ever energetic Superbi Squalo asked/screamed.

"Oi! Be respectful in the Tenth's presence!" His right-hand man, Gokudera Hayato, stood up in his chair and yelled.

"Hayato, it's okay." Decimo soothed. He smiled at his Storm. Gokudera flushed and sat down.

True, Hibari is a fight-obsessed person, but why him of all people? Decimo saw this one coming, he sighed.

"Yes. Kyoya can." Tsuna said in a calm voice. Totally unfazed.

_Although Hibari Kyoya can be scary, he trusts him, unconditionally. As expected of the Boss! _Gokudera Hayato thought with a smile.

"Ushishishishishishi. He's scary after all. I bet that those wimps peed in their pants already." The prince, Belphegor, mocked. "Ah! I have even better! I bet they're all bruises right now! Ushishishishi." Squalo whacked Belphegor's head and it landed in the table with a loud thud.

"VOOOOOOI! YOU'RE NOT HELPING!"

"Shut up, trashes." The temperature inside the room dropped as the Varia Boss, Xanxus, spoke with an irritated voice. He glared at his Vice-Captain, "You're noisy," then to the sadistic prince, "Do you want me to beat you up?" Belphegor grinned sheepishly and shook his head 'no'.

"Maa, maa. Calm down, Xanxus. Squalo's just like that and Belphegor's just joking." The ever-carefree person, Yamamoto spoke. The temperature even dropped more as Xanxus' glare intensified. Gokudera Hayato face-palmed, _baseball-freak, read the atmosphere will you? Do you want to die? _Before any havoc reeks, Tsuna decided to interfere.

Tsuna cleared his throat, diverting everyone's attention to him. When everyone looked at him, he started, "Kyoya can handle these kinds of things. Whether you believe me or not, he can handle this in a civilized matter. He –"

_THWACK!_

The sound came from the Common Room, no doubt about that.

What on earth is happening inside?

_THWACK!_

_THWACK!_

_THUD!_

_THUD!_

_CRASH!_

_BANG!_

Now that is something serious, a gun just fired! Every single being inside the Hall stood up and walked briskly towards the Common Room, even Xanxus.

Sasagawa Ryohei punched the door, "Oi! Hibari! What's going—"

All eyes bulged out.

The room is a mess. The curtains, tattered and shredded to pieces, dropped to the floor. The glass windows shattered to the ground. The chairs went upside down. The liquor spilled, creating a mess. Wooden splinters are all over the room. Furniture has scratches on them. But what's even more surprising is Hibari Kyoya: who looked at his bullet-wounded arm and is completely unfazed! As if it was just a normal wound!

"Oi, Omnivore." Hibari said to Decimo, "Those two ran. I've been itching to get hold of my tonfas and whack them both but I didn't. They shot me. And those two fled. It seemed that they are going to finish this by themselves. They do not approve of the 'peaceful' way of settling this."

"You could have stopped them." Hayato spoke.

"I promised the Omnivore to act 'civilly'. And as a man of honor, I keep promises. But I have to bite him to death later on for this humiliation." Hibari said as he withdrew his tonfas.

Tsuna gulped and sighed. "Chrome, Onii-san, stay here with Kyoya. Tend to his wounds." He then called out to guards, "All of you go to the salon. Make sure the Russo and Lombardi men are unaware of what's going on and make sure they don't fight with each other. If needed, use violence but do not kill!" The guards bowed to him and left immediately. He said to the Varia squad, "Secure the perimeter. Make sure no one gets in and out."

"VOOOOOOOI! I DON'T ANSWER TO YOU!"

"Ushishishishi. No way. The prince don't take orders."

"Arararara. More work?"

"Xanxus is my one and only boss."

Vongola Decimo glared at them to shut them up. "Now." He growled in a menacing tone. The Varia members flinched at his tone.

Seeing that no one budged, Xanxus sighed. Going against the strongest man in the Mafia Underworld means immediate death. "Trashes, get to work." Xanxus left along with his squad (to avoid bloodshed). Then his vice-captain started shouting orders.

"What do we do now, Jyuudaime?" Hayato asked. "Those two have not gone far. Should we chase them?"

"Oh yes. We are going to chase them and hit them hard." Decimo flexed his fingers and activated his HDWM. "Chrome, Onii-san, watch after Kyoya." Then he turned to his Cloud, "You can torture both bosses later." Hibari smirked at this. "I'll be waiting, Omnivore."

"Takeshi, Hayato, let's go." The trio went out of the shattered glass to the vast forest of the Vongola Estate.

**Salon  
Vongola Main HQ  
Sicily, Italy**

The room is dead silent when some Vongola men entered the room. Surprisingly, no one's harmed, the furniture is intact.

"Listen! Vongola Decimo told us to confine you in here for awhile." A man shouted.

"Is the meeting over?"

"Who won?"

"Who gets hanged?"

"Errm, not yet. I dunno. And no one, I guess?" the Vongola guard answered their questions while scratching the back of his head.

"What? What's going on?"

"What's taking them so long?"

Murmurs filled the room. Then it turned to shouting, defending their side of this conflict between two Families. The Vongola guards tried to calm both sides but unable to do so. The captain of the Vongola guards remembered Decimo's words:

"…_use violence but do not kill…"_

He then shouted orders to his men to apprehend the Russo's and Lombardi's.

_Wrong move, especially if you're apprehending a hundred plus capable Mafioso's._

**Sicily, Italy  
Vongola Forest  
Somewhere**

In order for Gokudera and Yamamoto to match with Tsuna's speed, Gokudera is riding the grown-up Uri and Yamamoto is using his 3 short swords as a boost. They have been looking for 10 minutes and still nothing. _This is bothersome, _Tsuna thought. Using the propulsion from his gloves, Tsuna hovered above the forest to scan for some fight-scene place but failed. The forest's too quiet to his liking.

"Jyuudaime, how are we going to find those two bastards?" Gokudera called-out from below. "The forest's too big. We might be too late."

"Hayato's got a point, Tsuna. They might be killing each other already." Yamamoto added.

"Yeah. You're right." Tsuna put on his headphones and contacted Giannini.

"Giannini."

_Slurp._

_Slurp._

"_J-Jyuudaime!"_ a flustered Giannine answered with a cough _"Is there something you need?"_

"Sorry for interrupting you in your break Giannini, but can you help me with something?"

"_H-Hai! Anything for you, Jyuudaime!" _

"Can you locate any Sky Flame in the forest besides mine?"

"_Give me a sec, Jyuudaime."_ Then a series of fast-paced typing was heard. _"Ah! I've found it, Jyuudaime! Two Sky Flames are detected about 300 meters, east from your position. But there's something weird. Both signals are slowly fading. Jyuudaime, they might be in danger." _

"Let's go." Wasting no time, Decimo zoomed to his east with his Storm and Rain trailing behind him.

Not long after, they spotted the two. But what they saw terrified them: both bosses are down and bloody but alive.

"What happened?!" Decimo yelled and went to their side. He cradled the Russo boss, "Oi! Answer me!"

Luigi Russo coughed out blood, "D-D-Decimo…" then passed out.

"Oi. Baseball-Freak. Go back to the mansion and drag Lawn-Head here. Hurry up." Gokudera gave instructions to the Rain. Without questioning, Yamamoto set out back to the mansion.

"Giannini, you still there?" Tsuna pushed his headphones closer to his ear.

"_Hai!"_

"Can you send the Varia here? Xanxus and his squad."

"_The V-V-V-Varia?" _

"Yes. The Varia."

"_Hai! I'll send them immediately!"_

"Thanks."

_Beep._

Gokudera scooped the unconscious Marco Lombardi's head and checked for pulse. "He's alive, Jyuudaime but he needs medical attention." He scanned his surroundings, "What happened here?"

"No idea."

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

"_Jyuudaime!"_

"Are they on their way here?"

"_I'll connect you to Xanxus-sama," _

"Gianni—"

"_Oi. Brat. We got our hands full here. Clean your shit there."_

"Wha-"

"_Those Russo and Lombardi bastards went on a rampage, half of your forces and mine are falling back. They kept on demanding for their bosses. Tch. Do not kill, you say? I'll kill you later."_

"Xan-!"

Then there was a series of bullet fired, followed by anguished screams on the other line.

"Xanxus! Wha—"

"_Enough of your bullshit! I'll rip you to shreds once this is over, Sawada Tsunayoshi!"_

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

_Bzzzzzzzzzzzzt._

Once again, Xanxus broke his earpiece.

Then there was a rustling in the bushes. Tsuna's Hyper Intuition told him to be on guard.

"Who's there?!" Gokudera aimed his Bow Weapon where the sound emitted. "Show yourself!"

A tuxedo-clad, brown haired man with the Russo Insignia came out with a gun on his hand, aimed at Decimo.

"Oi! Teme! Put that down!" Gokudera ordered as he aimed his weapon at the man.

"What happened to the boss? You did this?" the man asked.

"I said put that gun down." Gokudera hissed.

"Hayato, it's alright. Put your weapon aside." Gokudera complied immediately. Tsuna turned to man and said, "We've just arrived here and we have no idea what happened."

"I'm Vasquez of the Lombardi Famiglia. Please forgive me for my rude behavior." The man, Vasquez, bowed deeply. Sensing no danger, the man put his weapon inside his coat, "Decimo, your mansions' a wreck."

"I'm aware. But that's not important."

Suddenly, both bosses awoke. Both grunted and clutched their heads.

"Boss!" Vasquez went to his boss' side and supported him. "Are you alright?"

Gokudera went to his boss' side, "Jyuudaime, we should wait for Yamamoto."

Tsuna nodded and helped the other boss to sit.

"Decimo, Lombardi hit me hard."

"You started it Russo! You aimed your gun at me! Vasquez, shoot him!"

Without hesitation, Vasquez took out his gun and aimed for the Russo boss but the coward (the Russo Boss) immediately went behind the Storm Guardian and then,

_Bang!_

"HAYATO! LOOK OUT!"

Decimo jumped in front and received the bullet.

"JYUUDAIME!"

_**[End of Flashback]**_

After the trigger was pulled, Vasquez and his boss immediately ran and the Lombardi coward crawled away while Gokudera sat there, cradling his unconscious boss. Blood oozed uncontrollably and painted Decimo's white coat red. His mind stopped, unable to process that his beloved Jyuudaime just got shot. After a while, Yamamoto and the other guardians arrived along with a medical team and then the Varia arrived. Hayato regained his reason and started yelling orders. He ordered the Varia to track down both bosses with Hibari and Chrome, ordered Ryohei and his team to start healing Decimo, ordered Yamamoto to go back to the mansion and to not to let a single person apprehended out. Ironically, no one complained. Not even the Varia or Hibari. They complied without questioning. The entire time that the orders were given, no sound just a mere nod.

Throughout the ordeal, Gokudera was in charge. Though his emotions inside were in turmoil, he kept it, discreetly. As the right hand man, he should assume responsibility for the absence of his boss. No matter how much he wanted to break down and die.

For the first time, the Famiglia is in harmony. No complaints and no bickering. Well, they all have the same thought:

Kill whoever shot their Boss.

Destroy those who cross paths with the Vongola Famiglia.

Annihilate, if possible.

The cowards where found without effort. Hibari gave the first blow, giving them cuts and bruises and a bloody nose. The Varia merely watched. The ex-prefect's wrath was beyond control now. Without the Sky, the Cloud follows no one. Not even from a formidable herbivore like Xanxus. So why then did he follow the Storm's order? He just wants to fight those bastards who shot him. He had been ticked off since the very beginning of the meeting and seeing the bloody Omnivore made him snap beyond his limit. He was so consumed with rage. But luckily, Chrome was there to stop him.

The ever-cheerful Rain guardian, when he was facing the wounded men of both from the Russo's and Lombardi's, turned to a monster that scared out the shit of the men inside the salon. Seeing his best friends body, splayed with blood made him so mad. Yamamoto kept on chanting, _watch your temper, watch your temper, watch your temper,_ but no, he couldn't. All he sees are fishes that he wants to cut down to pieces and turn them to Royal Sushi and serve them to Jiro. His grip tightened around his Shigure Kintoki while he speaks in front. Thankfully, the men didn't try to provoke him. That saved them from being turned to human sashimi.

Ryohei was silent throughout the first aid process. And Gokudera's thankful for that. Even when the time that Decimo was placed inside the infirmary. Then, all other Guardians arrived. Hibari said that the mansion will not be a safe place of recovery. Gokudera agreed. Out of the blue, Xanxus offered to let Tsuna to take refuge in the Varia HQ also saying that they will assist the Guardians in future meetings with both Famiglia.

_Vongola as one in times of crisis._

Now, it has been three weeks but Decimo's still unconscious. The treaty between the Russo and Lombardi and Vongola have been announced as void. Hibari made it clear that what they did to the Vongola Boss is an act of rebellion and neglecting the contents treaty, therefore, both Families are considered an enemy. Take note, an enemy of Vongola is also an enemy to all of Vongola Allies but before any Mafia Family can destroy the Russo and the Lombardi, they've heard that Reborn single-handedly decimated both families. He came tearing in and out of each families strongholds when he heard about what happened to his student. In less than a week, both Families were erased in the world of Mafia.

Everything was back to what it was.

Except that Decimo is still in comatose condition.

"Jyuudaime, please wake up."

A movement caught Gokudera's eyes. "Jyuudaime?"

Brown eyelashes fluttered open, "Hayato?"

"Jyuudaime!" Gokudera held himself from hugging his injured boss, "I'm so glad you're awake." He sniffed.

Decimo sat up and groaned.

"Jyuudaime! You shouldn't move around! You're not completely healed yet!" Gokudera stood up and supported Tsuna.

"I'm alright. You worry too much." Tsuna smiled. "How long was I out?"

"A month."

"Oh. That long?" Tsuna rubbed the back of his head, "How's it going?"

"Everything's in order. You need not worry about it. Hibari and Reborn-san are working on it."

Tsuna nodded.

Gokudera smiled, he was beyond happiness when his Boss woke up. He can't fight back the tears now.

"Hayato, there you go again. I told you, didn't I? It is the boss' job to look out for his family."

"B-b-but, you almost got killed. I'm not worthy to be your right hand man. I've decided, Jyuudaime. I'll—"

Tsuna cut him off, "If you give me that 'resignation' or whatever crap, I'll beat the hell out of you."

Gokudera sniffed, "I kept on putting you in harm's way! I failed twice, Jyuudaime!"

"We are in the Mafia, Gokudera!" Tsuna yelled. Gokudera's head shot up, taking a look at his boss' angry face. The last time his boss called him that when he got angry about his smoking habits. "We are always in danger! I would rather die than seeing my guardians in pain!"

Gokudera was unable to speak. Tears continued to flow out of his eyes.

Tsuna decided to continue, "I would be willing to sacrifice myself for my guardians. Even in death, I will not hesitate to gamble my own life to secure yours!"

"J-J-Jyuudaime. . ."

"I don't' want to lose any of you!"

Gokudera's shoulders are convulsing, "I-I-I . . ."

"And you're here telling me that you're leaving since you can't protect me?" Tsuna chuckled sarcastically but tears also flowed out from his eyes. "What if another enemy attacks or another person shoots me? When you're gone, who would watch my back? Kyoya? Mukuro? No, they'll be too busy fighting than saving me. Takeshi? Onii-san? No, they'll be watching Chrome's and Lambo's back. Who is going to watch mine?"

Gokudera stared at his boss, wide-eyed. Tsuna stared back.

"In times like those, I'll need my right-hand man and friend to watch my back."

Tsuna stopped speaking and watched his guardian cry his eyes out. He smiled and said, "Don't blame yourself. You watched my back. I know you took over my duties and responsibilities while I was I gone. With that, you have watched my back."

"J-J-Jyuudaime!" Gokudera bowed his head deeply. "I'm sorry! I promise I'll watch your back always!"

Tsuna smiled, "I'm counting on you!"

~**END**

A/N: I FINISHED IT AT LAST! Please don't forget to leave a review!

___**Junemary**_


End file.
